After countless shortlist stories and rumors concerning who would play Star-Lord in Marvelís Guardians of the Galaxy, the search for the lead role is finally over, and fittingly the actor is someone who never appeared on any of the aforementioned lists. Deadline reports that Chris Pratt has been tapped to play Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, a character who was born of a human mother and alien father, and is a master strategist and combat expert who wears an ability-enhancing suit and pilots a psychically-linked ship. As Guardians features a cast of strange and cosmic characters, Quill was an important role to fill because he will likely act as the audienceís introduction to the vast, unfamiliar Guardians world. Hit the jump for more.

There were plenty of actors rumored for the role that made a lot of sense (John Krasinski, Zachary Levi, etc.), and Deadline notes that Marvel made test deals with Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Lee Pace, and Eddie Redmayne, but Chris Pratt actually seems like a perfect fit. His comic timing is excellent as evidenced by his work on NBCís Parks and Recreation, and heís shown his talent on the dramatic side with Moneyball and 2012ís Zero Dark Thirty, for which he also proved that he can beef up for a role if need-be.

Looking back on the previous shortlists and taking Pratt into consideration, itís clear that writer/director James Gunn is planning on injecting a good amount of humor into Guardians of the Galaxy. A rumor surfaced recently that Marvel was looking at possibly tapping Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler to do voice work in the film (one of the guardians is a talking raccoon), so Iím interested to see the tone that Gunn settles on for the finished film.

With the role of Star-Lord secure, Gunn and Marvel now look to filling out the rest of the cast, which includes the powerful Drax the Destroyer, a giant tree named Groot, the aforementioned Rocket Raccoon, and the female lead Gamora. The story is also rumored to involve the villain Thanos. Expect to hear more soon as production gears up to begin later this year. Guardians of the Galaxy will be released in 3D on August 1, 2014.

Love those visuals, still not sure if Guardians is for me though, but again, not trying to harsh on anyone who's diggin it.

I first thought that this movie would be a risk for them. Guardians is a niche group in that universe. I thought they could have done a half dozen other movies on other characters/groups that would have been more familiar to the general public. That said, it looks entertaining, and I'm curious how they will tie these guys in with the Avengers and the soon to be rebooted Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer.

This movie will either do great or fizzle out quickly. It won't be somewhere in-between.

I first thought that this movie would be a risk for them. Guardians is a niche group in that universe. I thought they could have done a half dozen other movies on other characters/groups that would have been more familiar to the general public. That said, it looks entertaining, and I'm curious how they will tie these guys in with the Avengers and the soon to be rebooted Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer.

This movie will either do great or fizzle out quickly. It won't be somewhere in-between.

Why 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Is the Riskiest Marvel Film Since 'Iron Man' (Analysis)
11:53 AM PST 2/19/2014 by Graeme McMillan

With the first trailer, Marvel's first nonsequel in two years attempts to reassure viewers that the unfamiliar isn't as alien as it first appears.

The biggest surprise about the first Guardians of the Galaxy trailer isn't that it looks exciting, with impressive visual effects and a snarky sense of humor; we've come to expect those things from Marvel Studios movies by now, after all. No, the surprise is that it addressed the big problem for the movie immediately: Nobody really knows who these guys are.

Much has been made about the relatively low profile of Iron Man before 2008's inaugural Robert Downey Jr. vehicle, but the idea that the character was a complete unknown before then is, at best, mistaken. Not only was the character one of Marvel's core properties, having continually been in comic book use since his 1963 creation, but he had crossed over into other media many times before -- including a solo cartoon series in the 1990s, and solo video game in 2002. So prior to 2008 there certainly was some level of awareness of who Iron Man was.

STORY: 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Trailer Debuts [4]

That's not so true for the Guardians of the Galaxy. Not only is this particular version of the team relatively recent -- they first came together under that title in 2008 -- but it hadn't been a particular success the first time around, with the first Guardians series being canceled after two years due to low sales (Although the characters have made appearances in Marvel's animated series, those appearances came after the movie was announced, in an attempt to build audience awareness).

Guardians is the riskiest Marvel Studios project since the first Iron Man for that very reason. This is when everyone discovers whether or not the Marvel brand can thrive outside of the characters that everyone already knows on some level. Audiences already had an idea about who Captain America, Thor and even the Hulk were before their movies -- arguably, the Hulk's earlier success hurt him, with the movie not hewing closely enough to the 1970s TV version -- and even if The Avengers was an unfamiliar title to many, the concept of "It's all those guys in the same movie" is an obvious enough one to grasp.

For Marvel's boasts of its vast character library to have any value, however, the studio has to prove that the characters can be successful no matter how obscure to mainstream audiences who didn't grow up with a complete collection of The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe (Deluxe Edition). In other words, Guardians of the Galaxy has to be a success (as does Ant-Man and whatever initial "Phase 3" movies are in development at the studio).

It's no surprise, then, that the first trailer for Guardians places so much emphasis on introducing these characters in easily digestible chunks of information. That actually makes it an odd trailer -- how many other movie trailers actually spend so much time saying these are our characters, this is their names and what they look like and what they do instead of concentrating on plot teases or sheer spectacle -- especially given that the team turns out to be surprisingly familiar after all?

The names, of course, are different, as are the costumes. When it comes to personalities, however, the trailer sets out to reassure: Is there a Tony Stark-like snarky lead? Check. Black Widow-like deadly female lead? Yup, and this time she's a green alien for all the Star Trek fans out there. What about a Hulk-esque big bruiser? Yes, there's one of those, with added tragic backstory. Admittedly, the raccoon and tree dude appear to be something else, but let's face it -- we have no idea whether or not Captain America fantasizes about being a gun-toting furry mammal (Thor's definitely Groot-esque, though).

In terms of visual aesthetic, Guardians similarly doesn't break a lot of new ground based on the trailer. That's a plus; less "new" to scare people off while they're trying to get used to these new characters, which helps explain the music in the slot, as well -- the percussive beats are part of our aural landscape by now, as is "Hooked on a Feeling," but the mix of the two is dissonant enough to get our attention and act as subtext for the movie itself.

Whether it's mixing cliche genre movie drums and the sound of Blue Swede or combining super heroes and space opera, the Guardians trailer wants us to recognize that what we're seeing are two great, familiar, tastes that -- hopefully -- will taste great together. If the trailer is successful, the answer to "Who are these guys?" becomes "They're just like the other Marvel heroes -- but in space," with those last three words acting as enough of a selling point alone that you're ready to buy a ticket right now.

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Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Sure-Oz could ****ing track anyone in the country via Twitter. Dude makes me scared to leave the house.

Bowz, the question you put forth in post 81 is what really puzzles me... why do they keep trying to introduce these little known, never really hugely popular characters? that's what comic book movie success boils down to IMO.

Even relatively well known guys like Green Lantern and Daredevil flopped like fish out of water.

How popular was the character/characters to begin with, how long did that popularity last, how far did it cross over to non-traditional audiences? you could even carry that over into 70's tv shows that were made into movies... Land of the Lost, Bewitched, Speed Racer etc.

That's great and all, but they flopped because the parents who actually gave a damn about those shows were too old to drive the box office... kids are all that matters with these movies, now that I think about, this Gaurdians movie might be a huge hit, because the kids might love a badass raccoon.

But for me, I'd rather see 3 different takes on what I know is cool... 3 different Batmans, 3 different Supermans etc... each its own vision, each its own stand alone feature.

I hear ya, and in fact thought this was likely to be pretty stupid. After watching the trailer though, I'm sold. Feels like a sarcastic bunch of misfits. Love that kind of schtick. Kind of like Firefly, but with aliens. Hell, one of my favorite movies had "space herpes" running around.

As far as Batman/Spiderman/Superman goes, I'm getting pretty sick of them. Yes, Dark Knight has been cool with Nolan, but I would rather watch a CGI cartoon than Ben Aflac.

I hear ya, and in fact thought this was likely to be pretty stupid. After watching the trailer though, I'm sold. Feels like a sarcastic bunch of misfits. Love that kind of schtick. Kind of like Firefly, but with aliens. Hell, one of my favorite movies had "space herpes" running around.

As far as Batman/Spiderman/Superman goes, I'm getting pretty sick of them. Yes, Dark Knight has been cool with Nolan, but I would rather watch a CGI cartoon than Ben Aflac.